Forty-Eight States

I have always liked ambient music, and the concept of ambient music as Eno described it in his early releases on the Obscure label. I recall with pleasure hearing Music for Airports played in Charles de Gaulle airport in France shortly after its release. It seems now a great privilege to have heard the music in its intended context.

About this time, in the late 70s, I was introduced to recording studios, where I recorded numerous sessions with a variety of bands over the years as a vocalist, arranger of material, and coordinator of production tasks on a small number of LPs and CDs, along with numberless demos. During this time I became comfortable with the idea of a studio as a separate instrument, which led me to put together a project studio of my own.

With advances in technology my setup gradually evolved into the digital workstation format, and during this time I married, became a teacher, and was ultimately able to move out of the city and into the Carolina foothills, where I now teach world literature and cultural studies, as I have done for the past twenty years.

In due course, one might say, I have found myself returning again and again to ambient music as an enriching experience in listening, and ultimately as a creative force in my musical life.  All this makes for an interesting place to be on a fifty-fifth birthday-- and today I'm also celebrating the completion of a new album, The Celestial Way, by Black Mountain School.

It's also Franz Kafka's birthday today.